Air pollution has significantly decreased over China amid the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, signaling unanticipated implications for human health. “Given the huge amount of evidence that breathing…
For two decades or more, alarms have been sounding for the Mekong Delta. It's being hammered by climate change, by a proliferation of upstream dams, by unsustainable and inappropriate farming…
Farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) of trees made headlines several years ago when 5 million hectares of Niger were found to have re-greened via the practice. FMNR is the encouragement of regeneration…
Cameras add monitoring power Field data collection is challenging in the best of conditions, and in an environment as harsh as Antarctica, large-scale, long-term field monitoring studies are rare. To…
It’s June, and migratory songbirds in the northern hemisphere are at their summer breeding grounds, having traveled thousands of miles from their warm-weather overwintering areas. Birds migrate as far north…
People love camera traps. Placed in the middle of a forest or savanna, their motion sensors trigger a photo when an animal or person passes by. They allow us to…
Satellite imagery has transformed how we assess changes in forest cover. The standard optical sensors carried by Earth-orbiting satellites capture the energy from sunlight reflected off objects on the Earth’s…
Researchers have identified a genetic analysis technique that pinpoints the harvest location of trees—a breakthrough that could help officials detect illegally traded timber. The multi-national research team tested the potential…
The United States, a major ivory market The sale of ivory across international boundaries has been banned since 1990, when the African elephant was listed among species prohibited for commercial…
Technology is changing how we investigate and protect planet Earth. The increased portability and reduced cost of data collection and synthesis tools, for instance — from visual and acoustic sensors…
Do you know where your endangered species are? A new online tool offers access to and analyses of a wealth of documents and data related to the United States Endangered…
Researchers from Indonesia and several other countries today (including authors of this piece) published in the journal Current Biology one of the most exciting new species descriptions in this century…
A conservation technology team at WWF-UK has produced a series of best-practice guidelines for three key data collection techniques—camera trapping, passive acoustic monitoring, and remote sensing through Light Detection and…
Clean, renewable energy holds immense potential to help us tackle a rapidly warming climate. But until a major shift away from fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas, it…
Just as humans and many terrestrial animals do, marine creatures use sound for communication in breeding, feeding, social structure maintenance and survival. However, the sounds produced by marine species have…
The United States alone has over four million miles of roadways, according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). Wildlife is threatened along every mile of this road network, as well…
Part of Brazil’s most altered landscape has proven that it's capable of regenerating after the effects of farming, timber plantations and ranching, according to a recent study. The research demonstrates…
Researchers have developed a new acoustic monitoring method to measure bees’ productivity to facilitate management and response to population decline.
Clinging on to rapidly disappearing Asian wetlands, the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is at high risk of extinction. The cat is believed extinct in Vietnam; meanwhile, there are no confirmed…
Global Forest Watch analysis tools allow users without a GIS to assess forest loss or gain for countries, parks, or other areas.
Swimming 4 meters per second, a feeding blue whale swings open its jaws and, in four seconds, swallows 140 percent of its mass—a volume of water and krill the size…
An innovative monitoring system analyzes satellite imagery to pinpoint illegal logging in the habitat of the Amur tiger and leopard.
Try to get your head around this one. There is this beautiful natural forest area in West Kalimantan, called Sungai Putri, which roughly translates as the River of the Princess.…
Automated acoustic monitoring of animal sounds can help assess faunal communities and detect endangered species.
Remember that endangered anteater-esque ball of scales from Favreau’s recent film, The Jungle Book? That’s the pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal. Over one million pangolins have likely been poached…
ith the disbanding of Colombia’s largest military guerrilla group, FARC, Colombia’s forests could come under pressure from developmental goals. Home to almost 10 percent of the planet’s biodiversity, Colombia is…
What has a body like a shark’s, a saw protruding from its head and critically endangered status according to the IUCN? The largetooth sawfish is a species of ray that…
A short biodiversity monitoring manual is now freely available online
What do lipstick, detergent and instant noodles have in common? They all contain palm oil. Half of every packaged product stocking supermarket shelves can be traced back to a ruthless…
Handheld, palm-sized, lightweight DNA preparation and sequencing devices are coming your way soon.
